Most people interested in Irish genealogy or the history of Irish surnames are probably aware of the process, that appears to have been strongest during the late 1700s whereby many families, all over the island of Ireland, changed their fine Gaelic Irish surnames, for whatever reason, into English surnames or even literal English translations of the Irish meaning of their names.

There were probably many reasons for this - perhaps when the speaking of Irish began to die out in many areas, but there also appear to have been strong socio-economic reasons for doing so also. Many Irish families strove to improve their economic standing in their localities. This process continued into the 1800s as Irish society became socially conservative in Victorian times. The process soon began to be reversed however, due to the Irish National Awakening in the nineteenth century as the Irish population became more nationalistic and re-discovered their Irish heritage with the Gaelic cultural revival.

The first signs of a change in Irish surnames began with the mass dropping of the O and Mc prefixes to many surnames, that as I have already mentioned in previous blogs began in Elizabethan times. In the late 1700s however, the process became much more pronounced with the adoption of English surnames to replace Gaelic ones. To give my own surname as an example, many McGettigan families in the late 1700s began to change their surname to Gettins. The process does not appear to have reached my own family, but it got quite close - the family of Patrick McGettigan the Roman Catholic bishop of Raphoe in the early 1800s, who lived quite close to my own relations had begun to call themselves Gettins by the time Patrick first began to study for the priesthood. By the time he became bishop of Raphoe however, he had re-adopted his Irish surname and began to refer to himself as a McGettigan again.

This is a very brief summary of an important period in the history of Irish surnames and I for one am glad that the process of adopting English versions of fine Irish surnames was halted and often reveresed by many Irish families during the nineteenth century.

As promised, if a little late, my next blog on the adoption of the first surnames by the Irish. For this blog I have used the wonderful genealogies drawn up by my old history tutor, Professor Francis John Byrne, that appear at the end of his book, Irish Kings and High-Kings.

It is true that the Irish were one of the earliest European peoples to adopt the use of surnames. It is thought that as the Irish ruling dynasties and population groups became larger and more numerous, the ruling families needed a process by which they could narrow down eligibility for kingship and identify members of the ruling family. They did this by adopting a surname, usually the personal name of a very prominent and successful family member who lived in the tenth or eleventh century, followed by the prefix Mac 'son of' or more popularly Ua (later O') 'grandson of'. The most famous and well known example are probably the O'Briens. This family from the Dál Cais dynasty of County Clare, adopted the surname in the late 1000s and early 1100s when the ruling family led by Brian Boru's great-grandson Muirchertach, a very successful and gentlemanly High-King of Ireland, adopted the surname Ua Briain, grandson of Brian. It seems hard to believe today that most O'Briens who live in Ireland or whose ancestors emigrated all over the world are indeed descended from the famous Irish king Brian Boru, excepting only some minor families on the island, who were not O'Briens at all, but who later adopted the O'Brien surname due to it being similar sounding or close to their own surname. The O'Breens of Westmeath are a good example of this. When the O'Briens adopted their surname they successfully established that they were the ruling family of the Dál Cais, and their closely related families descended from cousins or brothers of King Brian adopted other surnames. For example the O'Kennedy family were descended from a brother of Brian, as were other families such as the Ahernes. Other most distantly related Dál Cais families also adopted surnames such as McNamara, probably the most powerful family amongst the Dál Cais after the O'Briens, and there were other families also such as O'Dea and O'Hogan. As the years passed some of the O'Brien families in turn adopted their own surnames to differentiate themselves from the rest of the O'Briens. Another good example are the McMahons of west Clare who are descended directly from the High-King Muirchertach Ua Briain. Another branch of the O'Briens adopted the surname McBrien, but this surname, although it was used for many years in late medieval times did not last, as most members of this family eventually re-adopted the O'Brien form of the name.

The first Irish surnames appear to have been adopted in the western province of Connacht, by the various branches of the ruling Uí Briúin dynasty. The first surname to be used may have been Ua Ruairc (now O'Rourke). In the years 906/07 the Irish annals record the death of Fergal Ua Ruairc the King of Connacht, whose surname was taken from his grandfather Ruarc, the King of Breifne who died in the year 898. Other Connacht families to adopt the use of surnames early on were the Ua Flaithbertach (now the O'Flahertys), of the Uí Briúin Seóla dynasty. The first user of the surname, Ruaidrí Ua Flaithbertaig, King of Iarthair Chonnacht, who died in 1062, took his surname from his great-grandfather Flaithbertach. The O'Connor family (Ua Conchobair), who later monopolised the Kingship of Connacht may have adopted their surname a little later.

Surnames were also adopted early by the Cenél nEógain dynasty of Ulster. Domnall Ua Néill (O'Neill) king of Cenél nEógain and High-King of Ireland, who died in 980, was the first to use this very famous Irish surname. He took his surname from his grandfather Niall Glúndub who was also High-King of Ireland and who died fighting the Vikings in the battle of Dublin in 919. When another branch of the Cenél nEógain challenged the O'Neills for the kingship of Tyrone in the mid-eleventh century they adopted the surname Ua Lochlainn, which within a generation or two became McLoughlin. Other branches of the Cenél nEógain who occasionally challenged for the kingship of Tyrone adopted the surnames O'Laverty and O'Gormley. But they were all the one dynasty.

East of the Bann in the kingdom of the Ulaid, the ruling family adopted the surname Ua hEochada (O'Haughey), by the 1080s. As time passed however, this family found the need to further restrict the eligibility for kingship and the ruling family adopted the surname McDunlevy. To make the history of this family even more confusing many of the McDunlevys later adopted the surname McNulty in later medieval times.

I hope this blog has been interesting to readers. As is hopefully evident the adoption of surnames by the Irish was early in a European context but was certainly not the result of some fictional edict passed by Brian Boru. The adoption of surnames was due to a need for identification and a desire to restrict eligibility for kingship which appears to have arisen in Ireland in the 900s and which continued in the ensuing centuries. The first Irish surnames may have appeared in the province of Connacht but surnames also came early to the Cenél nEógain dynasty in the north. Ironically, in light of later made up history, surnames came late to the O'Briens and the Dál Cais, although it is astounding to think that all of the many, many thousands of O'Briens in Ireland and all over the world, are indeed descended from that one remarkable man, Brian Boru.

]]>GenealogyMon, 26 Sep 2011 10:47:13 +0000The O'Laverty family of West County Tyronehttp://www.familyhistoryireland.com/genealogy-blog/item/16-the-decline-and-disappearance-of-prominent-families-in-the-medieval-kingdom-of-tyrone
http://www.familyhistoryireland.com/genealogy-blog/item/16-the-decline-and-disappearance-of-prominent-families-in-the-medieval-kingdom-of-tyrone

What really got me interested in genealogy was researching the history of my own McGettigan family. My grandfather was from County Donegal and my surname was quite unusal for County Wicklow, at least while I was young. While researching the McGettigans I discovered records of the deaths of two McGettigan chieftains in the Annals of the Four Masters, Diarmaid McGettigan in 1132 and Tadhg McGettigan in 1215.

The Four Masters stated that these McGettigans were lords of Clondermot, an area which was in the west of the modern County of Derry, running along the east bank of the Foyle. However, with the death of Tadhg McGettigan in 1215 the McGettigan family disappears totally from the Irish annals and they are never recorded again. The next references I was able to discover about McGettigan people was in English records dating from the early 1600s but all these references were to County Donegal and not to Tyrone. So at some stage the McGettigan family must have moved and left County Derry to migrate into Donegal or the lordship of Tír Chonaill, as it was in late medieval and early modern times.

This disappearance and migration got me interested in what was happening in the medieval kingdom of Tyrone in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. When I discovered that the O'Carolan family, who were recorded as lords of Clondermot much more frequently than the McGettigans also disappeared from the annals after about the year 1300 AD, the goings on in late medieval Tyrone definitely had my attention. The disappearance of the families of Clondermot or the Clann Diarmada as they appear in the Gaelic Irish genealogies appears to have been due to the Anglo-Norman advance into Ulster which began with John De Courcy's conquests east of the Bann and culminated with the Earl of Ulster's building of the great castle at the mouth of Lough Foyle in the early 1300s. The Anglo-Normans must have destroyed the power of the coastal families of Derry and Inishowen. The fact that the most powerful family in west Tyrone, the McLoughlins also suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of their rivals the O'Neills, at the battle of Caimeirge, fought in 1241, must also have played a major part in the decline of the west Tyrone families.

Another prominent west Tyrone family who also disappeared from the Gaelic records at this time were the O'Lavertys. (Ó Laithbheartaigh). The O'Lavertys had a very distinguished ancestry being descended from Áed Allán, a king of Tyrone and High-King of Ireland who died in the year 743 AD. The O'Neills and McLoughlins were descnded from Áed Allán's brother Niall Frossach. The first prominent member of the family recorded in the annals was Murchadh O'Laverty who was nicknamed Glunillar 'of the eagle knee'. Murchadh also bore the title King of Aileach and must have ruled western Tyrone for Donal O'Neill who was High-King of Ireland at the time. Murchadh O'Laverty was fatally wounded in the year 972 while leading a raid into Tír Chonaill and he died after returning home to his fortress at Dun Cloitighe which is thought to have been at the site of the modern village of Clady on the River Finn. This area on the modern border between Northen Ireland and the Republic appears to have been the O'Lavertys' family territory. In the early thirteenth century the O'Laverty chieftains had the prestigious title ríoghdhamhna (royal heir) of Aileach, and in 1186, one of the family, Rory O'Laverty was even made King of Tyrone. However, he was killed the next year, again on a raid into Tír Chonaill.

Probably naturally to a west Tyrone family the people of Tír Chonaill appear to have been the hereditary enemies of the O'Lavertys. However, the O'Lavertys also appear to have feuded frequently with the O'Gormleys, another prominent west Tyrone family and indeed the O'Lavertys may have had ambitions to take over the O'Gormleys' territory. In 1251 the death of one of the last prominent O'Lavertys recorded in the annals, Ardgal O'Laverty, is entered in the Irish annals. He is called 'the lamp of the valour and hospitality of the north of Ireland', and he was buried in the monastic city of Derry. The last O'Laverty recorded in the Annals of the Four Masters was Murtough O'Laverty, who was killed in the year 1281 at the battle of Desertcreaght, which was fought between a Gaelic alliance led by Donal Óg O'Donnell, the king of Tír Chonaill, against a pro-Anglo-Norman army commanded by Hugh Boy O'Neill. Donal Óg O'Donnell was killed in the encounter and O'Laverty appears to have been in O'Donnell's army.

The O'Lavertys disappear from Gaelic Irish history after this date. This is quite surprising as it appears from the material above they were a very prominent and distinguished Tyrone family, much more so than the McGettigans or even the O'Carolans. I am not entirely sure what happened in this part of west Tyrone but some of the O'Donnells of Tír Chonaill appear to have moved into the Lifford area of modern County Donegal and expelled many Tyrone families such as the O'Donnellys, O'Gormleys, O'Loonys and the O'Lavertys also. The first O'Donnells to muscle in on the area may have been junior branches of the clan but certainly in the fifteenth century a major branch of the O'Donnells, the sons of the chieftain Neachtan O'Donnell were based in the Lifford area. These O'Donnells appear to have married into the O'Gormley family, and as a result it is probably no coincidence that the O'Gormleys were the one west Tyrone family to retain some of their power right ot the end of the Gaelic order in the early 1600s. The O'Loony family were forced high into the Sperrin Mountains while the O'Donnellys were sent into east Tyrone where they did retain power and infleunce as marshal of O'Neill's cavalry. The O'Lavertys appear to have been confined to the valley of the river Derg close to the ecclesiastical site at Ardstraw where they had a small fort inside the Termon or sanctuary. An indication of their very reduced status can be gleaned from the O'Neill document the Ceart Uí Néill which appears to have been written for the chieftain Turlough Luineach O'Neill, who ruled Tyrone in the late sixteenth century. This tract records that the O'Lavertys were not entitled to any compensation 'however long O'Neill should stay with them', which must have been a very onerous tax indeed.

A major but surprising factor in the decline in the power and status of the O'Laverty family in early modern times must be the fact that a substantial portion of the family appear to have left west Tyrone to settle east of the Bann with the O'Neills of Clandeboy in the fifteenth century. Certainly by the early 1600s O'Lavertys were prominent in Antrim with many O'Laverty families settled at Carrowlaverty and in the parish of Armoy.

However, by the time of the end of the Gaelic order in the early 1600s the O'Laverty family probably still maintained the cohesion of a very small and minor Gaelic clan, settled in the Derg valley west of Ardstraw. Whether they retained any memory of their illustrious medieval past is open to question, but one hopes that they did.